Damian Dowling
Age: 40
Place of birth: Dublin.
Where you live: Boston, MA.
Name of Company you work for: The Abbey.
City you work in: Brookline, MA.
Profession: Bartender
Why I chose this career: Family owned a small hotel/bar/restaurant in Ireland. Love talking to and meeting new people.
Status: Married.
Family: Wife: Candice Boys: Ruairi and Conor.
The proudest moment of my career: Opening my own restaurant.
Biography: Damian and his partner/chef Josh Sherman have established the quintessential neighborhood Irish restaurant, “The Abbey,” named after the national theatre of Ireland of course. The Abbey is located on Beacon Street in Brookline and has a very thoughtful, eclectic menu and an excellent whiskey and wine selection. Damian came to Boston on October 1st 1997, a year after completing a BA in politics and history at University College Dublin. He had just finished a graduate diploma in finance and was tinkering with the idea of doing an MBA at Boston College, but decided to get his feet wet in the hospitality industry instead.
After many years of working in some of Boston’s best known Irish restaurants, he knew the time was right to pursue his real dream of opening his own restaurant based on the concept of a small restaurant with a nice bar, serving high quality food. Damian and Josh did most of the build-out and opened on the 21st of September 2010. The Abbey is a small (only nine tables!) cozy restaurant in offering high quality food and great drinks. Damian and his partner take pride in the highest quality of personalized customer service, serving a full menu until 1:30 a.m. every night, which is rare in Boston. Since opening, The Abbey has been extremely successful.
Boston Magazine named it one of the “Top 5 New Restaurants in Boston” in 2011 and the “Best Restaurant in Brookline” in 2012. While their success has meant The Abbey is continually getting busier, it has never lost sight of the original mandate. It now employs 26 people and one of the reasons for the success is this brilliant staff, who have the same high standards as Damian and Josh. Damian met his beautiful wife, Candice, in 2001 and they were married in 2005. They have two wonderful boys, Ruairi and Conor.